The Wembly-Johnson Divide

2: the johnsons

    "I can make it better," he suggested, a smirk on his lips.

    "Walk me to my motorcycle?" Willow countered, pushing herself off of the lockers.
   
    "It would be my pleasure," Weston grinned, taking his bag and following Willow out of the school. Weston fell into step with her, and Willow used the opportunity to figure out if Weston knew anything.

    "So, the rumors..." Willow began carefully.

    "The rumors," Weston agreed.

    "Do you know who started them?" Willow asked.

    "No clue," Weston shrugged. "Why do you and Mason care so much about them? They're just rumors. It'll die out after a couple of days."

    "He's an asshole. That's why. Are you sure you don't know anything? Who told you?" Willow pressed, desperate.

    "Ryan told me," Weston answered. "He said he found out from his girlfriend."

    "Rebecca?" Willow groaned, sighing once Weston nodded his head. "Thanks, Weston."

    They had reached her motorcycle by this point, but Weston didn't make any kind of indication of leaving. Willow threw one of her legs over her Harley, twisting her body to face Weston expectantly.

    "You know, if the rumors are really bothering you, a little PDA with his best friend would probably help," Weston started, a slow smile forming on his lips.

    "You want to kiss me?" Willow confirmed, raising an eyebrow, amused. "No thanks."

    "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot?" Weston suggested, a little desperate. Willow felt bad for him, and his reasoning did make sense. And then, she remembered that she didn't really want to kiss Weston.

    "You want me to play rock, paper, scissors, shoot to see whether or not I contract mono today?" Willow laughed, running a hand through her hair.

    "Hey! I don't have mono!" Weston exclaimed, mocking offense. Afterward, with his eyes trained on the ground, he mumbled: "anymore."

    "Okay, I'm leaving," Willow decided, concluding that it was best not to get involved with any of Mason's friends if she wanted to continue avoiding him.

    "Wait," Weston called out as she leaned forward to kick her bike stand back. She lifted her head to face him again and could see confusion and wonder swirling in his eyes. "Why are you and Mason so...?"

    "We've known each other too long," Willow told him vaguely, her desire to leave magnifying by the passing second. She placed a hand on Weston's shoulder to comfort him, patting his traps appreciatively. "Don't worry. It has nothing to do with you."

    Mason decided to grace them with his presence at that moment, anger written clearly on his face. "Weston!" he called out, taking his time to stare down Weston and Willow separately. "Do you need a ride, man?"

"Uh, sure?" Weston replied unsurely, stepping away from Willow with a quick wink. Willow rolled his eyes at his cockiness, scoffing at the grin that formed on his face in response. "See ya around, Will."

Weston crossed over and sat down in Mason's car, and not long after, Mason sped sharply to the stop sign at the end of the intersection (a whopping ten feet). His car rumbled deeply as he pressed the accelerator hard, spewing gas out from his exhaust pipes.

Asshole, she thought, as she finally got onto her motorcycle properly, merging into the traffic that the end of the day brought.

❧☙

    Chris was having a party tonight, so Willow decided to leave Harvey's shop a little earlier than usual. It wasn't like he paid her for the work she did anyways. All she asked in return for all the tasks she helped with was the opportunity to learn more about anything she possibly could. She got home around seven, and while running through the kitchen downstairs, she informed her parents of her plans for the night.

    "I'm going to Chris's house! I'll be back around one or two," she told them, and both her parents nodded and returned to watching a rerun of FRIENDS. She would've joined them if the party was anyone else's, but Chris annoyingly managed to be there for Willow whenever she needed him, so she owed it to him to show up at his house tonight.

    She managed to shower, shave, put on makeup, and squeeze into her black skater dress with lacing all over the back before nine. She grabbed her phone, wallet, and keys as she left her room, waving goodbye to her parents as she slipped into a pair of heels. Driving her Harley in heels wasn't exactly something Willow wanted to try, so she texted her friend, begging for a ride. Ten minutes later, Maria was outside her house, honking rather obnoxiously for it being nearly ten in the night.

    "MARIA, SHHHH!" Willow screamed, running to her shiny new Cadillac as quickly as she could.

    "Sorry! I was going to just call you, but then I remembered who your neighbor was and decided that that course of action was too polite," Maria stated as Willow situated herself in Maria's car.

    "Fair point. He's a douche," Willow agreed, giving Maria an understanding nod. A couple more moments passed in silence, and then they both broke out into heavy laughter, uncontrollable and probably crazed to any passerby.

    "So, you excited for tonight?" Maria asked as she started driving towards Chris's house. He didn't live too far from Willow, but again, heels. A mile hike in heels was a lot different than a mile hike in sneakers.

    "Of course. I plan on getting thoroughly drunk after the shit that went down in school today," Willow vowed, throwing her head back to hit the seat.

    "What went down in school today?" Maria questioned, her curiosity piqued. She didn't go to the same school as Willow because her parents were extremely rich and extremely Catholic.

    "There were rumors about me," she paused, trying to build suspense futilely, "and Mason."

    "Oh my fucking god," Maria cursed, turning to look at Willow after they reached a red light with widened eyes. "Is this because of the party last Saturday?"

    "What?" Willow retorted, finding Maria's shocked gaze with her own. "What happened at the party last Saturday?"

    "Chloe was sobbing about seeing you and Mason talking to each other and how you guys always fought so 'passionately that there was no way your hate relationship wouldn't end with love'. I mean, she was as high as... well no, higher than, a kite, but I guess enough people heard her," Maria told me, her words rushed and breathy.

    "So this is all Chloe's fault?" Willow snarled, biting her lip to keep from yelling out.

    "I'm pretty sure," Maria concurred, shrugging her shoulders. "Either way, we're at Chris's. And if she is too, we can find out if she started all of this."

    "If she's here, Mason is too, though," Willow groaned, unbuckling her seatbelt once Maria parked. She stepped out onto the sidewalk, apprehension filling her mind as they neared Chris's house. She didn't know what to hope for.

    As it turned out, Willow didn't get much of an opportunity to worry about Chloe, Mason, or the rumors, because as soon as she walked in with Maria, Chris called them over. They spent the next half an hour doing shots, and just when Willow felt the buzz of alcohol vibrating through her body with the heavy bass of the music, Weston dragged her to the middle of the makeshift dance floor for the next hour. It was almost one in the morning by the time she finally made it out, and she leaned against the wall out of pure exhaustion. The alcohol was more than just a buzz now; it was slurring all her movements and her words were sounding like alphabet soup that went through a meat grinder.

    "You need a ride home?" she heard a voice ask softly, but it was too distant for Willow to recognize it. She nodded in vain, slumping against the arms that lifted her up. They seemed familiar enough to trust, and she knew she had smelled that smell before. They took a couple of steps towards the exit together before she collapsed altogether, her eyes closing shut as darkness fell over her.